Visibility is a significant issue for elderly people in their home.
Failing eye-sightis common in elderly people. Poor lighting ("Grandma, you need to change those 40W globes for something better!" or unable to clean windows/open curtains) and trip hazards (floor clutter, tattered old rug, cords or uneven surfaces) are a common (and dangerous) combination.
Falling, fracturing a hip and then not being able to get help... This project is intended to improve visibility through intelligent lighting.

This project will implement 3 concepts:
1. Networked (wifi/XigBee/etc) microcontroller for configuration, monitoring and sending a distress message, with solid state globe management (on, off and dimming for late night),
2. Motion detection - in the form of PIR or RFID, depending on cost and if the occupants will tolerate wearing a widget,
3. Duress alarm - "man-down" alert and possibly an audio pick-up (if the controller can detect "scream" or voice "help me! help me!")